Unsolicited, not trustable, irrelevant, biased and harrassing

We are living in a word of information that is delivered for free to us but that is subtly mixing information and advertising to control our mind set. We are so often harassed with always evolving advertising techniques that our brain developed auto-defensive technique to ignore what it identifies as advertising messages.

Usually.

Most online ads are scams. If some of them aren't, they are ruined by the fact that most of them contain viruses that people fear to click on. They are also incredibly obnoxious, especially on sites like YouTube. All people want to do is watch videos and not have annoying banners popping up all over the place begging you to buy their product. Most people do not even pay attention and just click out of it so they can get back to what they are doing, making ads completely ineffective.

Yes.

I never saw an internet ad that ever interested me. Most of them looked like scams to me, or advertised really cheap looking games, or didn't make sense, or were offering a product I had looked at just a few minutes ago (because of cookies). Ads are nothing but annoying. I've never bought anything because of one.

I agree that advertisements are nothing more than a pain, on many levels.

As someone who does advertising for 6 companies, we find that these types of ads do not lead to great results and are extremely costly to run. As a consumer, as well, I do not want to surf the computer and get bombarded with things that do not interest me.

All advertisements are annoying and unnecessary because I, personally, have never been drawn in by one.

I can't remember a single time I've ever been drawn by an advertisement to buy a product online. Any time I've bought something or subscribed to a service, I've had the intention to do so, without being influenced by online advertisements. They are a waste of time and quite annoying.

Except for the occasional ad that pertains to me, most ads are ignored, due to information overload.

With information overload and the zealous amount of ads out there on the Internet, most ads are tuned off in people's minds. The ones that do stick in people's minds are ones that the people like anyway, or would have sought out, regardless of the media. Even if it takes up the screen, people see it more as a nuisance than they do effective advertising.

I agree all ads on the Internet are annoying and of little value because 99.9% of them are for scams or products of no proved value.

I can honestly say in the 11 years I've been online I have never clicked on an ad. The Internet is overflowing with money making schemes and such useless products of absolutely no value that even those selling them are aware. Online advertisements are an eyesore.

I agree that advertisements posted on websites are a nuisance and ineffective, because the consumer cannot determine which ones are posted by ethical people or companies, and which ones aren't.

As far as I am concerned, advertisements posted on websites are a waste of time, and a nuisance. There are so many ads that it becomes overwhelming. I prefer to do my own search for a website that has something that I am interested in. In that way, I can choose to do business with companies or organizations that I know to be ethical.

Yes, all advertisements that appear on web pages are regarded as a nuisance and completely in effective.

I know that when I go to a website in which there are advertisements I quickly x them out or pay no attention to them. I know I am not the only one who does this. Maybe once in awhile they actually work for people who are not Internet intelligent. However, most people just completely disregard these ads.

I believe that advertisements are a nuisance on websites.

When I use Firefox it has a wonderful add on called Adblock. This blocks the ads on websites. The browser runs faster when it does not have to load about five ads per page. Also, there are not as many cookies to clean off my computer when I use this feature. When I use Internet Explorer, which does not have an Adblock feature, it runs very slow and there are entirely too many ads on each page. Because of how many ads there are, I do not even pay attention to them, therefore making them ineffective.

Not every advertisement is a bad thing!

Another poster mentioned that there are ads that are attached to websites based on previous websites that you have visited. They are trying to tailor the ad to fit that particular person making the ad far more effective. For instance, I was looking at the new VW 2012 Beetle, and then shortly thereafter, noticed not only VW ads popping up, but also found that other "similar" vehicles were being advertised as well. It can be very effective, and I have found myself randomly cruising through ads and sites that have been advertised because I was interested in them!

Not all advertisements are a nuisance and completely ineffective, as many are targeted directly to your interests.

Many advertisement companies run their ads on websites based on what you have looked at online recently. This means that the advertisements pertain more to your own interests and they may offer you important information, such as a sale at your favorite clothing store. These types of targeted advertisements can draw your attention and they are not ineffective.

Not all advertisements on websites are nuisances; some are related to the particular search you looked up and therefore useful.

Not all advertisements on websites are nuisances; some are related to the particular search you looked up and therefore useful. For example, if you are looking up Vitamin B complex, some popular vitamin stores come up like GNC; then once you enter the site, a pop up for XYZ company Vitamin B complex might come up. That XYZ company Vitamin B complex might be exactly what you were looking for and the pop up allowed you to find it quickly and conveniently.

Advertisements that appear on websites are effective, because they do draw attention from people on the sites, and also serve as a way of earning money.

Although ads that appear on websites are a nuisance, they are definitely effective in what they are out to do. I have, more then once, clicked on an ad that was of interest for me, and would not have done so if it were not for the ad. The ads also help in offsetting some of the costs of running the website, therefore making it available to us.

Advertisements that appear on websites are useful if they are well-targeted to the reader's interests, as is the case with any advertisement.

Advertisements on websites that are just randomly generated, with little regard to the individual reader's interests, are useless. However, the more modern style of ads, where they're placed specifically based on things a reader might be interested in, are relevant and interesting. I've bought things I saw advertised on Facebook, where the targeting info comes from connections on my profile and things I've posted about. I've also bought things from ads on niche blogs I read. They target those based on the unique demographic that's likely to be reading that blog. Internet ads are more like magazine ads than billboards. Plus, they don't annoy me because the ad revenue supports the sites' content that I want to see.

No, because I, personally, get carried away by the advertisements.

Often, websites such as forums are free of charge because they are sponsored by advertisements. I wouldn't mind a little nuisance, as long as I don't have to pay membership fees. In addition, when I am browsing a forum (especially a clothing forum), I am open to advertisements of brands I have never heard about. I found the brand "Boden" on a website advertisement, and now it turns out that Boden is currently my favorite brand. Without advertisements, I wouldn't know what I would miss.

Not all website advertisements are ineffective or nuisances.

Unobtrusive advertising is occasionally welcome.

Advertising that makes noise or moves is an infuriating annoyance, one hundred percent of the time. But static images and text, if unobtrusive and not getting in the way of the site content, can be neutral or even well-received. I myself have clicked on ads from time to time, if I wasn't annoyed. But on the Internet, annoyance at the ad placement or obnoxiousness, or at ads that are clearly designed to mislead, completely trumps any interest there might have been. But if I feel an ad respects the fact I am there for the site content, and not the ads, I then might actually read them and click on them.

Advertisement that appear on websites are not always a nuisance because they sometimes provide helpful information.

Advertisements on websites may sometimes help the user because they are bringing up information about the topping that is being searched. It may provide an add for a service or product connected to what you are looking for, but may not have necessarily known about. While a lot of the ads may be useless, sometimes they provide a suggestion that is informative.